Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VII.djvu/180

 172 FEZZAN spices, ostrich feathers, ivory, &c. Caravans set out from the city semi-annually, in March and October, across the desert for Timbuctoo. They complete the round journey in 139 days, of which only 54 are employed in actual travel. FEZZAN (anc. Phazania, and the land of the Garamantes), an inland country of N. Africa, supposed to extend from about lat. 23 to 31 N., and from Ion. 12 to 18 E., but the boun- daries are ill defined; pop. about 50,000. lit lies south of the pashalic of Tripoli, to which it is tributary, and is bounded on all other sides by the Sahara. In consequence of the want of moisture, and the great heat, it is almost barren of vegetation. The soil consists of black shining sandstone, or the fine sand of the desert, gypsum, and rock salt, with strata of dolomite and limestone. The valleys intersecting the low ranges of hills contain the cultivable land of the region. Its northern parts are traversed by two ridges of stony and sandy hills, which in some places attain an elevation of 1,200 ft. from their base. In the eastern district they are called El-Ha- ruj, but in the west take the name of the Ghu- rian and Soodah mountains. S. of the Soo- dah extends the salt-incrusted desert of Ben Afien. The table land of Moorzook occupies the middle and southern parts of the country. The land lies in a hollow lower than the sur- rounding desert. The heat in -summer is in- tense, rising sometimes to 133 F. In winter the cold is greater than might be anticipated from its latitude ; in 1850 snow fell at Sokna, and ice as thick as a man's finger was found at Moorzook. There are no rivers or brooks, rain seldom falls, thunder storms are rare, and the climate is very unhealthy for Europeans. Dates are the staple product; small quantities of maize and barley are raised. Among the other productions are figs, pomegranates, watermel- ons, legumes, durra, and a little wheat. Of domestic animals, goats are the most numer- ous ; camels, horses, and asses are reared. Of wild animals, there are the lion, leopard, hyasna, jackal, buffalo, fox, and porcupine ; among birds, vultures, falcons, and other birds of prey, with ostriches and bustards. Fezzan is exempt from flies, but ants, scorpions, and bugs abound. Planted on the high road of commerce between the coast of Africa and the interior, the inhabitants place their main re- liance upon the caravan trade. From Cairo to Moorzook the caravan takes about 40 days, from Tripoli to the same place about 25 days. Of manufactures, besides a little leather and articles in iron, the country is almost destitute. Fezzan is inhabited by two branches of the Berber race: the Tuariks, who occupy the northwest, and the Tibboos, who dwell in the southeast. Their complexion is dark brown, and their persons are well formed. They speak a corrupt dialect of Arabic and Berber. Their writing is in the Mograbin characters, but they have little idea of arithmetic, and reckon everything by dots in the sand, ten in FIBRINE a line. Their media of exchange are Spanish coin and grain. The country is ruled by a sultan, who resides at Moorzook. The chief sources of his revenue are taxes upon slaves and merchandise. The only places exhibiting prosperity, according to Barth, are Moorzook and Sokna; the population of each is estima- ted at about 3,000. L. Cornelius Balbus the younger, Roman proconsul of Africa, penetra- ted into Phazania about 20 B. C. The remains of Roman civilization, in the shape of columns or mausoleums, are still found as far S. as 26 25'. In the 7th century Fezzan fell under the dominion of the Arabs, who introduced Mo- hammedanism, to which religion the people are still fanatically attached. Since then Fez- zan has generally been tributary to some Arab potentate. In 1811 the bey Mukni usurped the throne and acknowledged allegiance to the pasha of Tripoli, Fezzan has been much visit- ed by modern travellers, and is regarded as the starting point for the interior of Negroland. Denham and Clapperton, Oudney, Hornemann, Lyon, Ritchie, Barth, Richardson, and lastly Dr. Vogel, have all visited and described it. FIARD, Jean Baptiste, abbe, a French eccle- siastic, born in Dijon, Nov. 28, 1736, died there, Sept. 30, 1818. He accounted for the perversities of human conduct by ascribing them to demoniac agency. It was his opinion that Voltaire and other philosophers of his time were merely demons, and he denounced them as such before an assembly of the clergy of France in 1775. The French revolution seemed to him a great diabolic triumph, and his opinion was confirmed by his own impris- onment for two years for persistence in the ex- ercise of the priesthood. Among his writings are Lettres philosophiques sur la magie (Dijon, 1803), and La France trompee par les magi- dens et demonoldtres du 18 f siecle, fait demontre par des faits (Dijon, 1803). FIBRINE, a nitrogenous organic substance, existing in a fluid form in the blood and lymph, and capable of spontaneous coagulation when withdrawn from the vessels of the living body. Vegetable fibrine, a substance analogous to it in composition, is found in the newly express- ed juices of plants, particularly of the grape, when these are allowed to stand for some time, and the gelatinous substance that is deposited is washed free from the coloring matter asso- ciated with it. A similar substance exists also in wheat flour, being separated in the glu- ten. Fibrine is obtained from freshly drawn blood by taking up the ropy portions that ad- here to a twig with which it is stirred, and thoroughly cleansing these of coloring and soluble matters by washing. It is a soft white substance, and becomes on drying yellowish, brittle, and semi-transparent. Numerous anal- yses have been made of the fibrine, albumen, and caseine derived from vegetables used for food the albumen from the clarified juice of turnips, asparagus, &c., and the caseine from beans and peas; and the results prove a close